Say goodbye to "pigs strong"
He persisted for 36 days under the rubble of the earthquake, and passed away due to old organ failure; in the past 13 years, he entrusted the public's memory and thoughts
It's time to say goodbye.
In the last period of life, "Pig Strong" could no longer stand and had a weak sniff.
Even Gong Guocheng, the closest breeder, couldn't feed him more.
Gong Guocheng spent the last 6 years of his life with "Pig Strong".
Every morning, he would remove the wooden door of "Pig Strong House", and "Pig Strong" responded to him with a grunt.
He planted it with sweet potato sprouts that he loved, and interrupted its lazy sleep when it was time to go for a walk.
Known for surviving 36 days after being buried in the 5.12 earthquake, he later lived in the museum's "villa" and became a "pig strong".
He has lived for 14 years, which is equivalent to a hundred years old of human beings.
Aging has already come when it is 12 years old.
First, the hind legs were unable to support, and then the food began to be left over, and I no longer care about the people who came to visit.
There will still be many people coming to visit it, bringing food and greetings.
It seems that it is no longer an ordinary pig.
In the past ten years, it has acted like a coquettish and played, showing off its own happiness.
But Gong Guocheng feels that it is more like a "living cultural relic", which entrusts some people's thoughts.
According to news from the Jianchuan Museum, "Pig Strong" passed away due to old age and exhaustion at 10:50 pm on June 16.
Surviving pig
"Pig is strong" has been chosen several times by fate.
The first time was the tenth day of the fifth lunar month in 2007.
At that time, it was a little piglet that was 2 months old and weighed more than 40 kilograms and was taken to the vegetable market.
That day, Wan Xingming and his wife in Tuanshan Village bought it from the market.
In Pengzhou, Sichuan, the villagers continued the habit of slaughtering pigs.
Piggy grows very fast. In the twelfth lunar month, Wan Xingming had to choose one of the two domestic pigs. Because there was no companion to fatten up, the "pigs were strong" were kept.
If there is no earthquake, Wan Xingming will let the "pig strong" follow his companions when the local farmhouse peak season comes.
At 14:28 on May 12, 2008, the earthquake struck and the Wan Xingming family ran out of the house. The panicked people had long forgotten that they had a pig.
The next day, someone in the family mentioned it, "It's a pity that the pigs are raised so well, they are crushed to death, so I can eat them quickly while they are not rotten."
Wan Xingming's home was in a mountain ditch, and the mudslides on the mountainside rushed to the back of the house.
There is a small river ditch in front of the door, and across the small river is the pigpen.
A few days later, Wan Xingming went home to take care of clothes, and left after seeing that the pigpen was not moving.
The "hope" of "pig strong" came and went away.
36 days passed in a flash like this.
On June 17, Wan Xingming's family returned to Tuanshan Village.
Yu Wenlong, a reporter from Chengdu Commercial Daily at the time, recorded the scene in the article.
Rescue soldiers are clearing the ruins in Tuanshan Village and preparing to kill them.
Wan Xingming told them, "I have a pig in it, and it may be dead." An officer and soldier became nervous, "A 36-day-old pig, what if it causes a disease?"
At more than two o'clock in the afternoon, the rescued soldiers opened the tiles of Wan Xingming's pigpen, preparing to pull the dead pigs out and dust them with lime.
However, people saw a pig lying under the rubble and panting.
Charcoal saved its life.
The pigpen is very short, and Wan Xingming built another layer on it to store charcoal for the winter.
When the earthquake came, the pigpen collapsed, the tiles and bricks were pressed on the pigs, and there was a half-meter-high gap between the planks and the ground, and the "pigs were strong" could not move in the middle.
Fortunately, the charcoal collapsed.
The heavy rain after the earthquake also seeped through the ruins and wet the charcoal.
In the 36 days of being trapped, it was the charcoal and water that continued the "pig's strong" life.
Wan Xingming recalled that when the soldiers scavenge the debris from the pig, his wife rushed to feed it with a bag of flour, and tears came from the pig's eyes.
This was the first time Wan Xingming saw animals cry. He felt that the pig seemed to be thanking them.
"The pig is strong" goes down the mountain
A few days after "Pigs are strong", Chengdu is still rainy.
He Xinyong, deputy curator of Jianchuan Museum, learned of the news and rushed to Wanxingming's home in Pengzhou.
He intends to adopt it.
The idea is very simple, as the curator Fan Jianchuan said, “A pig lived under the ruins for 36 days, creating the limit of life, and I hope it will not have to suffer the knife.”
When He Xinyong found Tuanshan Village, Wan Xingming took out the kimchi jar and wine at home and set up a dragon's formation with him.
He Xinyong promised that the Jianchuan Museum would feed the pigs until they died naturally, and offered to pay an adoption fee of 3,000 yuan.
The locals didn't like round numbers, so Wan Xingming asked him another 8 yuan.
At 3008 yuan, He Xinyong took away the "Pig Strong".
Later, the curator Fan Jianchuan took another 10,000 yuan to donate to Wan Xingming's family.
He Xinyong also took the pig trough away, and also filled a bag of charcoal at home.
People took the pig grass and led the pig into the car, but after crossing the bridge, it turned back.
"Jiang Qiang", who was driven by people and lured into the minivan, didn't know where the car would arrive.
Wan Xingming said that he and his wife cried in the yard when they saw "Pig Jianqiang" being loaded into the car.
The news that the "pig is strong" descended from the mountain attracted a lot of media, some of which were chasing the truck all the way back to Chengdu.
He Xinyong drove the car, but the phone never stopped.
On the way, he discussed with the curator Fan Jianchuan that he should give the pig a name.
The first name is "Pig Persistence": Persistence lived for 36 days.
Before the car arrived at the museum, Fan Jianchuan changed the name of the pig to "Jiang Qiang".
"The connotation of being strong includes persistence. Our people in the disaster-hit areas must live strong." He Xinyong recalled.
So this pig has a name-the big name is "Pig Jianqiang" and the nickname is "36 Baby".
He Xinyong placed "Pigs Strong" in a small courtyard in the Jianchuan Museum.
It was the house of the common people in the past. One room was cleaned and repaired.
According to media reports, the museum has prepared a "villa" for "Pig Strong" and has also hired a special breeder to take care of it.
People are afraid of famous pigs and are afraid of being strong. "Pigs are strong" on the contrary.
After becoming famous, the original pigsty of "Jianqiang Pig" was protected, and a sign "Jianqiang Pig Site" was erected with photos, news reports and phone numbers of the farmhouse when "Jianqiang Pig" was discovered.
Before the earthquake, Wan Xingming's family ran a farmhouse. After the earthquake, many tourists came here because of "the pig is strong".
Someone wrote the "Song of the Strong Pig" for it, "As strong as a pig, with ordinary power, let the god of death flee in a hurry in helplessness, never retreat and never surrender." Some netizens rated it as the "2008 Moving China Year" "Top Ten Animal Gold Award", the inscription for it: "Ba Jie, I didn't expect you to be under pressure than Wukong." Even an insurance company found the Jianchuan Museum and promised that "pigs are strong" if they die within 10 years, the insurance company will provide free " "Swine Strong" provides 5,000 yuan pig farming insurance.
As a female steer, "pig strong" shouldn't have offspring.
According to Xinhua News Agency, in February 2011, BGI cloned 6 "Little Pigs" in Guangdong "in order to continue the high-quality genetic genes of pigs."
The two "Little Pigs Strong" who came to Jianchuan Museum only lived for a few months, and later other "Little Pigs Strong" also passed away.
As the "pigs are strong" older, people become more curious.
Many people will ask the museum, "How is the pig being strong? Is it still that pig?" "Why can there be a pig that can live for so long?" It's been changed many times."
Friends around He Xinyong would also raise the same question, which made him dumbfounded.
He will tell everyone plainly, "It must be the pig. When it really goes away, the museum will tell everyone."
"Living artifacts"
Gong Guocheng is the third breeder of "Pig Strong".
Starting from February 1, 2015, this job has occupied most of his time every day.
According to Gong Guocheng's recollection, at first "Pig Strong" didn't want to care about him. It missed the previous breeder Uncle Wang. Gong Guocheng fed it and didn't eat it. He had to wait for him to leave before eating.
Gong Guocheng had to persuade it: "Look, I'm here again, I'm the one who serves you in the new term, wow, the previous people have retired." About a week later, "Jiang Qiang" accepted him.
Hearing the crunch of the tricycle, "Pig Strong" will suddenly get up.
Every morning, Gong Guocheng had to carry a bamboo basket on his back to cut wild vegetables for him.
"Pig Jianqiang" likes to eat "water peanut vine", Gong Guocheng wants to pick out the sloppy grass and scald the parasites on the grass with boiling water.
In summer, Gong Guocheng would bathe it once a week.
For convenience, Gong Guocheng planted Prunella vulgaris and Gentiana in his yard...both to clear away heat and detoxify.
Every time he bathed "Pig Strong", he cut the herbs and scalded them with boiling water.
"Pig is strong" doesn't like bathing, it likes to lie and roll on the grass.
After it rained, a small puddle accumulated in the grass. It had to "roll bath" in it, covered in yellow mud.
Just after taking a shower, there was still water on his body, "Pig Strong" had to rub against the tree, and it was black.
Gong Guocheng shouted at it, "Don't rub, you have to wash it after rubbing!"
"Pig is strong" is happy, and Gong Guocheng can see it.
It will shake its head and head twice, shaking the fur on its back.
"That's acting cute and acting like a baby with you!"
Around it every day, "Pig is strong" has become a companion of Gong Guocheng.
A few years ago, people in the museum saw him walking with "Pig Jianqiang" and ridiculed him as "like having a big pet."
In his eyes, "Pig is strong" is more like a "living cultural relic."
Gong Guocheng's mobile phone screensaver hasn't been changed for three years. In that photo, "Pig Jianqiang" raised his head and pouted at the sun, showing two big front teeth.
He also added the text on the screensaver: "Second Brother, Senior Brother called you."
Before the age of 30, Gong Guo was doing farm work in the rural areas of Chengdu.
But he had never cared for a pig like this.
He feels that pigs, like other pets, are nostalgic. Whoever has been in contact with him for the longest time will have feelings for you.
Gong Guocheng feels that "Pig is Strong" is smarter than Zhu Bajie in "Journey to the West".
The other pigs are spreading in the pigpen, but "Pig Strong" will wait until the walk outside to excrete on the grass every time.
At the end of the walk, Gong Guocheng shouted "Go home", "Pig is strong" can also find his way home by himself.
In the past, when the "pig was strong" could go, he would go out for a walk twice in the morning and evening, each time about an hour. The people in the museum commonly called "the pig strong to go to work".
This "class" can be "late" at will, it will sleep in bed, Gong Guocheng tells it to get up, it is unwilling, and yells at him vigorously.
Many people have mentioned the cleverness of "pigs strong".
"Pig is strong" broke He Xinyong's stereotype of "Pig stupid".
After dealing with "Pig Strong" for so many years, he found that the "Pig Strong" in front of the camera seems to be more and more natural.
"In the beginning, it was afraid of life and would hide from people. Slowly, when there were more people, it would take the initiative to raise its head and wait for you to take pictures when it met people taking pictures." Like an actor, it cooperates with people in a familiar way.
"It's really old"
In 2019, Gong Guocheng felt that this smart pig was "old".
Its front legs started to be unable to stand up, and could only kneel and stay there every day. Gong Guocheng guessed that it was probably a rheumatism.
Its hair began to turn yellow and hard, gradually covering the plum birthmark on its buttocks.
The veterinarian cured her legs, but in people's eyes, the life of "pigs strong" began to count down.
On January 16, 2020, "Pig Jianqiang" moved into a new home of 50 square meters.
The original living environment of "Pig Strong" was open-air, and the winter was relatively cold.
In order to take good care of it, Jianchuan Museum built a new home for it.
But it didn't like this "Housewarming", it missed the original small house.
Gong Guocheng used an apple to lure it in, and several people dragged it in.
At that time it could go for a walk, and Gong Guocheng dragged its tail to walk every day.
Later, its hind legs could no longer move, nor could it stand up.
Before the Spring Festival, Gong Guocheng found that he had been fed and ate leftovers.
"It's really old."
"Pig Strong" was forced to start a "retirement" life.
The tourists coming and going, some people throw in to eat, some people tap the glass, it rarely cares about it.
On April 30 this year, Jianchuan Museum posted a Weibo stating that “Pigs Strong” may be about to complete their life journey.
On May 10, the Jianchuan Museum announced again: “Pig Qiangqiang is dying, only for a while.” Later, the Weibo changed to “Pig Jianqiang has entered the late stage of life”.
On May 11th, the veterinarian from the town was invited to the "House of Strong Pig" to check it.
The veterinarian took the flashlight and pricked the eyelids of "Pig Strong", and then put his hand in front of its nose.
"Its pupils are a little fuzzy and divergent, and the sniff is still very weak." The veterinarian concluded.
"Pig Strong" let out a heavy muffled snort, chirped his mouth, his ears and hoofs moved twice, as if trembling.
After completely unable to stand up, "Pig Strong" basically can only maintain the position of lying on its side.
After discussing it with the breeder Gong Guocheng for a long time, the veterinarian decided not to turn it over for fear of danger.
His heartbeat is fairly normal, but his body temperature is only 37°C, which is more than 1°C lower than that of a normal pig.
Final farewell
People came from all over the country to say goodbye to it.
Wan Xingming and his wife, the original owner of "Pig Jianqiang", rushed to the Jianchuan Museum from their hometown in Pengzhou on May 12.
They brought the corn and lettuce that "Jiang Qiang" once loved.
The wife squatted down and rubbed the grains in her hands one by one and piled them to the mouth of "Pig Jianqiang".
During the 13 years that "Pig Strong" left home, the couple often came to visit.
Due to the inconvenience of transportation, the last time they saw "Pig Strong" was three years ago.
At that time it was able to stand up and had a good appetite.
Now, Wan Xingming only hopes that it can live a little longer and have the opportunity to feed it again.
There are also people who have experienced earthquakes.
Gong Guocheng heard them say from the side, "We have all suffered and suffered together." "The fellow came to see you."
Wu Ying saw "Pig Strong" for the first time at Jianchuan Museum in 2014.
She yelled "the pig is strong" in Mandarin, but she ignored it because Gong Guocheng, who keeps it, can't speak Mandarin.
"I found Master Gong and asked him to teach me the Sichuan dialect, and Zhu Jianqiang raised his head with a hum."
When I watched "Pig Strong" in November 2018, Wu Ying caught up with her birthday, "I want to see Pig Strong, hope it will bring me some blessing." She also hopes to pass this blessing to me. Another person, a person who also experienced the Wenchuan earthquake.
Li Han was attending classes at Beichuan Middle School when the 5.12 earthquake occurred.
More than 20 hours after the earthquake, Li Han was rescued from the rubble, but he could only be amputated because his right leg was compressed for a long time.
Of the 64 classmates in the class, only 29 survived.
In 2017, Wu Ying met Li Han who was undergoing leg surgery, "I told her, you must come to Jianchuan Museum to have a look." In 2018, Li Han went to Jianchuan Museum for an appointment.
"The pig is strong" is Li Han's most impressive impression besides the Wenchuan Earthquake Museum.
For Li Han, "Pig is strong", like the objects in the museum, carries her memories and thoughts.
That afternoon, they followed "Pig Jianqiang" for a walk outside.
"When we see it, we will chase it quickly. It is very strong and healthy, and it feels like a continuation of new life."
Li Han didn't touch it, so he walked behind its ass, walked slowly for more than ten minutes, and walked with it back to its home.
On June 9th, after learning that "Pig Strong" had entered the dying, Wu Ying came to the Jianchuan Museum to visit again. Her left front leg had been "bent to the point", and she kept wiggling and twitching.
"It looks hard, I guess time is running out."
Later, she often went for a walk in the hall and took a look at the "House of Strong Pig".
Sometimes she goes early and she can meet Gong Guocheng who is doing cleaning.
These days, Gong Guocheng sees "Pig Strong" more frequently, coming every two or three hours.
Gong Guocheng never thought about saying goodbye to it, he just wanted to take care of it to the last moment of his life.
"As long as it is an animal, at a certain age, it can't help it. It can't escape this natural law."
Will "Pig Strong" know people's emotions?
Gong Guocheng often missed its youthful appearance, its chubby body running in the grass.
Gong Guocheng followed behind, but couldn't get there anyway.
On the morning of June 17th, Gong Guocheng came to clean the "Pig Strong House" again. In the glass room, he was the only one, bending over to clean the foam on the floor a little bit.
Wu Ying couldn't help asking: "You have completed this mission."
"Yup."
(Wu Ying and Li Han are pseudonyms in the text)
Beijing News reporter Guo Yimeng